NORFOLK, VA — Eastern Virginia Medical School officially welcomed the largest medical class in its history Friday with the annual White Coat Ceremony

The 118-student-strong Class of 2013 donned the white coat, a universal symbol of medicine, and recited for the first time the Oath of Hippocrates.

Eastern Virginia Medical School paid tribute to two major figures in its history on July 29, naming one of its main buildings in honor of Mason C. Andrews, MD, and his brother, William C. Andrews, MD.

Surgeon General nominee Regina Benjamin, MD, MBA, is no stranger to Eastern Virginia Medical School. Dr. Benjamin, founder of the Bayou La Batre Rural Health Clinic and associate dean for rural health at the University of Alabama College of Medicine, was the keynote speaker at the 2004 dinner to support the LD Britt, MD, Scholarship.